Teng Nee Cheong, Untitled, No. 270, 2000

Charcoal on paper
86 x 117 cm (visible), 110 x 142 x 6 cm (framed)
Condition: Good, with foxing throughout the work and mould within the frame.
Certificate of Authenticity from the Estate of Teng Nee Cheong available

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Exhibited
Embodiment | Sentience. The Private Museum, Singapore, 4 October–9 December 2018.

Literature
Sabapathy, T. K. Embodiment | Sentience. Singapore: The Private Museum, 2018, p. 41.

  
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The female nude ran through Teng Nee Cheong's practice for four decades, worked out almost entirely in charcoal, and almost always from life. Where his oils and pastels leaned into ornament and pattern, these studies strip that away, holding only line, weight and gesture, catching the figure directly from the model. He drew from life regularly from the 1970s through the 2000s, in his Singapore studio and while travelling through Bali, Thailand and Indonesia.

For all that steady output, Teng kept this body of work largely to himself. He told his family the Singapore market wasn't ready for it, that collectors still wanted his still lifes and landscapes, and so the nudes stayed in the studio. It is the divide Nauti is built on — made openly, kept private — and it runs through even the most restrained of these drawings: a lifetime of looking closely at the body, shown to almost no one.

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Teng Nee Cheong 邓尔昌 (Singaporean, 1951–2013) studied at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (1966–1968) under the influence of mentors like Georgette Chen and Ng Yat Chuan. Throughout his career, Teng demonstrated mastery across oil, pastel and charcoal, though it is his intimate still lifes that reveal a quieter, more contemplative strand of his practice.

In these early to mid‑career works, Teng imbued everyday produce with both formality and lyricism. Teng’s still lifes occupy an important place within his wider oeuvre, bridging his training in Nanyang figure and local landscape traditions with the more ornate, symbolic narratives he later developed. They demonstrate his capacity for attentive observation and formal refinement, serving as foundational studies in colour, shape and composition.

Teng’s early career laid the groundwork for what would become a highly individual and expressive body of work. In 1978, he received the Ministry of Culture Special Award, marking a moment of national recognition that affirmed his artistic direction. While he would go on to explore identity and queerness in later decades, his earlier works already signalled enduring interests in visual storytelling, ornamentation, and cultural synthesis—elements that would come to define his singular artistic language.

(Photographed in May 2026)

Charcoal on paper
86 x 117 cm (visible), 110 x 142 x 6 cm (framed)
Condition: Good, with foxing throughout the work and mould within the frame.
Certificate of Authenticity from the Estate of Teng Nee Cheong available

-

Exhibited
Embodiment | Sentience. The Private Museum, Singapore, 4 October–9 December 2018.

Literature
Sabapathy, T. K. Embodiment | Sentience. Singapore: The Private Museum, 2018, p. 41.

  
-

The female nude ran through Teng Nee Cheong's practice for four decades, worked out almost entirely in charcoal, and almost always from life. Where his oils and pastels leaned into ornament and pattern, these studies strip that away, holding only line, weight and gesture, catching the figure directly from the model. He drew from life regularly from the 1970s through the 2000s, in his Singapore studio and while travelling through Bali, Thailand and Indonesia.

For all that steady output, Teng kept this body of work largely to himself. He told his family the Singapore market wasn't ready for it, that collectors still wanted his still lifes and landscapes, and so the nudes stayed in the studio. It is the divide Nauti is built on — made openly, kept private — and it runs through even the most restrained of these drawings: a lifetime of looking closely at the body, shown to almost no one.

-

Teng Nee Cheong 邓尔昌 (Singaporean, 1951–2013) studied at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (1966–1968) under the influence of mentors like Georgette Chen and Ng Yat Chuan. Throughout his career, Teng demonstrated mastery across oil, pastel and charcoal, though it is his intimate still lifes that reveal a quieter, more contemplative strand of his practice.

In these early to mid‑career works, Teng imbued everyday produce with both formality and lyricism. Teng’s still lifes occupy an important place within his wider oeuvre, bridging his training in Nanyang figure and local landscape traditions with the more ornate, symbolic narratives he later developed. They demonstrate his capacity for attentive observation and formal refinement, serving as foundational studies in colour, shape and composition.

Teng’s early career laid the groundwork for what would become a highly individual and expressive body of work. In 1978, he received the Ministry of Culture Special Award, marking a moment of national recognition that affirmed his artistic direction. While he would go on to explore identity and queerness in later decades, his earlier works already signalled enduring interests in visual storytelling, ornamentation, and cultural synthesis—elements that would come to define his singular artistic language.

(Photographed in May 2026)

Artwork located in: Singapore